This week presented enough negatives and positives that there can be confirmation bias on both sides.
If you think the Lakers are too bad on defense to be a title contender, you point out how they got blown by the Suns on Monday. If you think LA is an offensive juggernaut, then you can point out how they scored 133 points in their win over the Pelicans.
While we want things to be black and white, life exists far more often in the gray. Who will this year’s Lakers ultimately be? We’ll have to play it all out to truly find out.
5 things I liked and didn’t like
1. The defense is bad
Even during the Lakers’ seven-game win streak, I’ve found their defense to be bad. Points in the paint were easy for opponents to get and as long as teams were a bit patient and passed the ball, a solid look at the basket was guaranteed.
The numbers match my eyes.
The Lakers have a defensive rating of 115.3, 18th in the NBA. Opponents score 21.1 points off turnovers against LA, fourth-most in the NBA, and average 49.7 points in the paint, 13th in the league.
No one is expecting Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves or LeBron James to be elite defenders, but they have to improve. Luka and Austin have to defend better when teams try to pick on them and LeBron isn’t even getting back sometimes.
Their offense has been so good that they’ve just tired teams out and have eventually gone on a run to secure the result. That won’t be sustainable this week, as they are set to play only teams with above .500 records.
2. Chill on the LeBron is washed talk
Every season, LeBron starts slowly as he ramps up to his All-NBA level. And every year, during the early part of the season, I have to hear people throwing dirt on his still-warm body.
So, of course, this season is no different. He’s averaging just 15.2 points, 4 rebounds and 7.2 assists in his first five games, which would be career lows for the king in points and rebounds.
Sure, he turns 41 this month and perhaps the decline is here. But if anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt, it’s the player who has consistently produced across 23 seasons in the NBA.
Maybe, wait until the year has changed before you declare him the “Washed King”.
3. Swing swing to Rui Hachimura
Even Lakers fans who aren’t as high on Hachimura would agree, I’m sure, that he is a great offensive player. This makes the fact that he took only one shot in the team’s loss to the Suns all the more vexing.
The Lakers’ offense wasn’t rolling but for whatever reason, the ball didn’t find him. The blame has to go to Luka Dončić on this one. He is the main on-ball player and he didn’t find a way to get him involved. Luckily, Luka took the blame for the result and while Hachimura did point out the Lakers didn’t play well together, he was also clear that there’s no need to panic.
I don’t care about excuses or rationale. The only reason for Hachimura to play that much and not shoot is that Luka is red-hot and going for the Wilt Chamberlain 100-point record. Other than that, please pass the ball to your best 3-point shooter who’s waiting for it on the perimeter.
4. Sometimes the villain wins
Dillon Brooks was back to his old tricks against the Lakers on Monday.
He was the ultimate troll, celebrating every basket like it was a game-winner. He was pointing to fans all night and yapping at anyone who would listen. After one of his dunks, he did an exaggerated shoulder pump celebration, a clear homage/mocking of LeBron.
He finished with a team-high 31 points, leading the Suns to the victory. After Phoenix’s win, he was as cocky as ever in his postgame press conference.
If you are a neutral fan or a Lakers hater, this was a great moment, but from the Lakers’ perspective, it added salt to the wound that was an embarrassing home loss.
So credit to Brooks, he won the battle. However, the overall score indicates he’s far from being LA’s Kryptonite.
5. RIP Elden Campbell
Hearing about the passing of someone is never good news. Unfortunately, former Lakers center Elden Campbell died this week at just 57.
Campbell’s Lakers years were in the 90s, so many fans are unaware of his game and contributions. His passing is sad, but hearing more stories about his game and the joy “Easy E” had playing the game he loved certainly warmed my heart.
So rest easy Campbell, you will forever be part of the Lake Show.
Stat of the Week
Luka and Austin are the best backcourt in the NBA. This week’s Stat of the Week proves that. In LA’s win against New Orleans Luka scored 34 points and Austin was right behind him with 33.
It was the third straight game where Austin and Luka each scored 30-plus points. This makes them the fourth duo in the past 50 years to accomplish this feat.
The other duos were Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard with the Bucks in 2023, Monta Ellis and Corey Maggette with the Warriors in 2010 and George Gervin and Mike Mitchell with the Spurs in 1984.
Whenever you are setting records with a limited company spanning five decades, that’s a good thing. There’s still plenty for the Lakers to fix to maximize their talent, but Luka and Austin are already well on their way.
Player of the Week
The Lakers’ Player of the Week is also the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week, Luka Dončić.
It’s getting difficult to find new ways to describe Luka’s dominance. He’s simply a force of nature. Teams try to blitz him, put their best defenders on him, even try a little bit of zone and nothing seems to bother him.
He has passes available to him that others can’t make and when his 3-point shot is going, he’s one of the most electrifying players to ever step onto a basketball court.
I’ll resist giving him this award every week, but he’ll have it often given he’s squarely in the MVP conversation.
Play of the Week
No one can travel faster than the ball. The Lakers’ offense works best when the basketball is zipping around, searching for the best possible look. Against the Pelicans, we got a prime example of this.
Luka brought the ball up with Pelican Jermiah Fears defending. While Luka was still at the logo, you could see his gravity already impacting NOLA’s defense. Jose Alvardao, who was defending Austin Reaves, was not only looking at Dončić but already leaning his way.
Jaxson Hayes set the ball screen, getting Fears out of the play. With Alvardo already focused on Luka, he was able to help quickly. However, in doing so, he left Reaves wide open in the wing.
Luka passed to Austin, and Micah Peavy rotated from the corner to help guard Reaves, but that left Rui wide open in the corner for a catch-and-shoot three. With Hachimura shooting 45.8% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, he didn’t disappoint and knocked it down, giving the Lakers a double-digit edge in the first quarter.
With Luka and Austin being so good, it makes Hachimura and even LeBron’s life that much easier.
Stories of the Week
The WNBA’s new reported CBA proposal is unnecessarily aggressive - SB Nation
The WNBA is currently working on a new collective bargaining agreement, and there are plenty of things left to resolve before a new deal can be reached. When will it get done? Is a lockout looming? What are the biggest factors being bargained over? SB Nation’s Chelsea Leite has the most recent updates ready for you.
Although the WNBA will be increasing salaries in this new CBA, that does not change the landscape for these players who bounce from contract to contract. That minimum $500K isn’t automatically given to every player when they step out onto a WNBA court. When you sign a 10-day contract or get cut from the league early in the season, you only get paid the daily rate for as many days as you were active. While those daily rates are still going to increase in the new CBA, it still doesn’t equal a full minimum salary. The proposal just doesn’t make sense for a league with so much turnover and uncertainty.
The biggest problem with these new reported proposals, though, is that the league even has any desire to push the WNBA schedule up into mid-March. Obviously, right now, the WNBA’s schedule accommodates both the NCAA’s March Madness tournament and the schedules of overseas leagues in Europe, Australia and China, to name a few. Even as new leagues like Unrivaled and Project B have been introduced, they haven’t conflicted with the WNBA’s schedule.
This change would conflict with all of them.
‘A lot of slices of pizza left’: Where the Lakers stand after 20 games - LA Times
Thuc Nhi Nguyen is doing a great job on the Lakers beat, combining her personality with her basketball intellect to tell the stories that matter most about the best basketball team in Los Angeles. In one of her recent features, she broke down where the Lakers are at 20 games into the season.
‘Although Redick is pleased with the team’s results after 20 games, he hasn’t always been content with the process it took to get there. The coach who harped on building “championship habits” said the Lakers have delivered that standard in just 16 games.
“Within those 16 games, I don’t know that we’ve had a complete game yet,” Redick said. “So that’s the North Star: is being able to do what we’re supposed to do for an entire game, and we’re not there yet.”
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.